6 ms·

Chinese Netizens are very familiar with Xi Jinping's national ID number precisely for this reason :-) ID verification is enforced on all Chinese websites. Peop

• djrj477dhsnv 1y ago
  > ID verification is enforced on all Chinese websites. Is that really true? So search engines? News sites? Pseudo-anonymous discussion forums?
  • bobsmooth 1y ago
    Yes. You need an ID to use the internet.
    • qingcharles 1y ago
      What about visitors?
      • atlintots 1y ago
        You don't need an ID just to use the internet in China...
      • SXX 1y ago
        Roaming is VPN. And if you want fast one outside firewall you can grab HK esim like soSIM. And this one only needs any passport photo w/o face verification.
    • anonzzzies 1y ago
      Stop talking nonsense.
  • raincole 1y ago
    Don't listen to the sibling commenter who doesn't know what they're talking about. No, you don't need ID verification to use search engine or read news in China. However, sites that depend on user-generated content (like forums) would ask for at least your phone number.
    • djoldman 1y ago
      How easily can a burner be used? Are sim cards easily swapped?
      • keysdev 1y ago
        Not sure about now. It was before the covid. Keep in mind everything is done via weechat anyway now days. Anyone from behind the great wall care to comment? Is HN event reachable from behind the great wall with out Tor?
      • raincole 1y ago
        > Are sim cards easily swapped? Very easily. Apple even specifically introduced dual-sim iPhone for China. > How easily can a burner be used? You need to bring your ID to a telecom to get a phone number legally. But I don't know if there is a black market for burner sims. (Last time I've been there was a few years ago so take it with a grain of salt.)
        • computerfriend 1y ago
          > Very easily. Apple even specifically introduced dual-sim iPhone for China. Because they don't support eSIMs there.
        • Gathering6678 1y ago
          Burner sims have been a thing of the past in China for quite some time. The official rationale I believe is to curb telecom fraud, which in turn left China and started doing their business in southeast Asia.
      • jesterson 1y ago
        There is no such thing as "burner". Phone number is very hard to get and requires ID verification and sorts
        • dmurray 1y ago
          It's very easy to get. As a visitor, I got one in the airport for $20. "ID verification" is stretching it, but like so many things in China it requires the vendor to take a photo of your ID, and unusually also to take a photo of you and submit it to the telecom website.
  • budududuroiu 1y ago
    No, but some features are locked until you do. For example, you can join voice chat rooms on Xiaohongshu, but can’t turn on your camera until you verify ID. You can join others’ broadcasts but you can’t create your own, etc
  • yegle 1y ago
    You can have "read" access anonymously (with a big asterisk, see the end), but as soon as you need "write" access, the service provider (the website etc) is legally required to verify your ID. It's why there's no pseudo-anonymous discussion forum in China, at least legally. Source: https://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2016-11/07/content_5129723.htm https://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2016-11/07/content_5129723.htm > Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China, Article 24: When network operators provide users with network access, domain name registration services, fixed-line and mobile phone network access procedures, or provide users with information publishing, instant messaging and other services, they shall require users to provide real identity information when signing an agreement with the user or confirming the provision of services. If the user does not provide real identity information, the network operator shall not provide the relevant services to the user. The big asterisk: there's no anonymous internet service in China, you have to ID yourself to get access to the internet (article 24), and the service provider are required to keep record of you (IP and everything) (article 21), and they are also required to cooperate with the authority (no surprise here) (article 28). And using VPN or Tor is likely illegal (article 27).
• MiddleEndian 1y ago
  lol on a much lighter note, for many years I used to use 111-111-1111 as a general phone number for CVS card discounts. It stopped working several years ago though.
  • kstrauser 1y ago
    I used 888-888-8888 at Target yesterday. Shhh.
  • Waterluvian 1y ago
    As a Canadian I was lost and confused when visiting the States (in the before time) and a gas pump asked for my zip code. So I put in the one and only zip code I know. I bet you can guess.
    • enlightens 1y ago
      Glad you could come visit from Beverly Hills ;) EDIT: actually, depending on your age and what you watched on TV, maybe you were visiting from Boston?
    • ethagnawl 1y ago
      Did it work?
      • Waterluvian 1y ago
        Yeah. Random numbers wouldn’t but it did. I assumed it had to be a valid zip code.
      • farrisbris 1y ago
        It probably did. I was in the us this summer and was similarly confused that the pump wanted a us zip code for a foreign card. I input the zip for the address i was staying at and it worked...
        • ethagnawl 1y ago
• Gathering6678 1y ago
  This is not true. A) personal ID numbers are not publicly available (you could certainly get your hands on some, but I doubt a lot would know Xi's ID), and B) more importantly, nowadays ID verification in China uses more sophisticated methods, e.g. in order to not be restricted when playing games, users need to prove they are over 18. The user would permit the game to verify through a payment provider such as Alipay (I don't think one would even need to give their ID to the game, as it is handled by Alipay which has done KYC already). Although I suspect such ... "innovations" ... would soon get to the western world including UK.